If a National Register of Historic Places designation makes you think of Colonial era homes with red brick and plaster, columns, porticos and all the rest, you may be pleased and a little surprised to learn that homes from your lifetime—or not so many decades prior—are cropping up on this coveted list.
Woodhurst, a solidly “intact” mid-century modern (MCM) neighborhood that borders Mill Dam Road in Virginia Beach, recently made the cut. According to Mark Reed, the City’s Historic Preservation Planner, this is in keeping with a state and local trend to pay more attention to newer neighborhoods. At the state level, this awareness comes under the auspices of the New Dominion Virginia initiative, which focuses on the Commonwealth’s history and architecture from 1946 to 1991.
Platted in 1955 by Frank Whitehurst and completed in 1960, Woodhurst’s roughly 33 acre, triangular-shaped plot features 81 single-family MCM homes on half to three-quarter acre lots in four different models. They are distributed through the neighborhood, at varying angles to the street, so that no two of the same model are built next to each other. The only change to the original plat is a corner parcel that was subdivided with a home built on the back half that is not mid-mod in character.
Platted in 1955 by Frank Whitehurst and completed in 1960, Woodhurst’s roughly 33 acres features 81 single-family midcentury modern homes on half to three-quarter acre lots in four different models.
Designed by Norfolk-based architectural firm, Oliver and Smith, Woodhurst’s original 1,457- to 1,617-square-feet homes of two to three bedrooms and 1.5 to 2 baths were heavily marketed to officers and pilots at Naval Air Station Oceana. The interiors featured vaulted ceilings, exposed beams, floor to ceiling brick fireplaces, relatively open floor plans, living rooms with Philippine mahogany paneling (which isn’t from the Philippines and isn’t mahogany), cork floors in kitchens, and wooden parquet flooring in dining and living rooms. Bricks salvaged from buildings demolished to make way for the Norfolk-Portsmouth (Downtown) Tunnel were used in some fireplaces and carport walls.
Because the historic register is solely focused on the homes’ exteriors and settings, surveys are only required on the exteriors. Therefore, homeowners who have remodeled their interior spaces are eligible for the historic designation. Even exterior renovation does not necessarily prevent a home from being a so-called “contributing resource,” i.e. contributing to the characteristics that make the neighborhood eligible for the designation.
But changes to the structure that impact the character, or even footprints that are expanded while preserving the character, can render a home “non-contributing.”
Alterations such as enclosed carports within the original footprint and marble chip roofs replaced with shingles are pervasive in the neighborhood and were deemed acceptable resulting in 75% contributing and 25% non-contributing resources.
Achieving recognition on the National Register took about two years and first required inclusion on the Virginia Landmarks Register. Woodhurst resident Jerry Teplitz catalyzed the process by bringing the neighborhood to the attention of Virginia Beach planning staff who conducted additional research before recommending it to the Virginia Beach Historic Preservation Commission. The firm of Debra McClane, an architectural historian, prepared the nomination.
Along the way, requirements included a preliminary information form to determine eligibility, a written rationale addressing seven areas of integrity, a statement of significance, and a public hearing to ensure that all homeowners are on board. Throughout, city staff nurtured community engagement with initial meetings conducted virtually during COVID. Though Woodhurst was deemed to have a distinctive and cohesive architectural style in the Tidewater region, it does not currently have a civic league. The new sense of shared identity among homeowners, however, has some residents talking about starting one, mostly for social gatherings.
The National Register of Historic Places is only honorary and does not impose rules, regulations, and restrictions on its neighborhoods, says Reed. What the designation does do is instill pride in communities while hopefully encouraging preservation. It also provides future opportunities for tax credits and, while it does not guarantee preservation, it does offer some protections to historic resources against the potential of negative impact from future projects.
Betsy DiJulio
Betsy DiJulio is a full-time art teacher, artist and curator with side hustles as a freelance writer, including for Coastal Virginia Magazine, and a vegan recipe developer, food stylist and photographer. Learn more on her website thebloomingplatter.com.
